7 Quick Takes Friday (set #132)

This week: How we will one day view Planned Parenthood. A tough, but honest look at the nature of abortion. One man’s remarkable accomplishment to advance women’s health. A young boy honors the memory of his dad. A 90 second video gives a glimpse of war’s nightmare for children. Father Barron presents a brief overview of the Council of Trent. A warning from the ’50s which we paid no attention to (one of many).

— 1 —

No words are necessary.

(Found online but not credited.)

— 2 —

The truth about abortion is offensive because abortion is offensive. Many women today bear the indelible scars of their abortion. Younger women, filled with pride and radical feminist zeal, too often have not learned this hard, life changing lesson. This film is for them.

— 3 —

Real women’s health issues are not about “reproductive rights” (a direct euphemism for abortion) but actually about women’s health. Outside of the affluent West, one of the many serious issues is the lack of access not to abortion but to sanitary pads. This is the fascinating story of an Indian man who has done something about it:

Father Barron gives a very nice overview on the 450th anniversary, of the Council of Trent. If you don’t know what it is or much about it, this will help.

— 7 —

In the 50’s, we received this warning. I am sure many thought “this could never happen here!” Only 60 years later, look where we are. People were warned, but they did not listen. Now they are waking up, but time is short. Non-negotiable priorities in upcoming elections: (1) stop abortion, (2) restore religious freedom, (3) fix this:

Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!

Comments

That said, allowing for what I think I understand to be some Roman Catholics’ stance on use of birth control as prohibitive, it deserves pointing out that Planned Parenthood has served women well in the distribution of birth control.

What about these many women who want to use birth control and have the religious freedom to choose to do so?

Sally, I respectfully disagree. Planned Parenthood is the largest aborter of unborn children in the US. In the 10 year period from 2000 to 2012, 3.6 million lives were lost at their hand in surgical abortions. Chemical abortions raise that number significantly by another 14.5 million. In those 13 years alone, 18 million innocent lives were taken.

In contrast, the Nazis terminated 11 million innocent lives in their similar reign of terror. Hitler and Planned Parenthood both work from twisted ideologies. Both also gain personally, Hitler with power (somewhat debatable) and Planned Parenthood in profits (not debatable – $814 million over that period).

The only way I see to view this as an unfair comparison is to deny equal human dignity which as faithful Catholics, we do not. The comparison is apropos.

I do agree that Catholic teaching on artificial birth control (also taught by every Christian community until 1930) is “prohibitive” as their use is sinful. See the excellent teaching of Humanae Vitae for more information. Putting aside its sinfulness for a moment, artificial birth control fails often enough to contribute to “abortion demand”.

Finally on your last point, suggesting use of birth control as a matter of religious freedom – it’s a stretch. I certainly would not use this as a linchpin of an argument of why Planned Parenthood is not all bad. They are evil ideologues in pursuit of profits at the expense of innocent human life.

I read something somewhere (yes, I know… that’s terrible isn’t it? Why is my brain such vacuum when it comes to sources?!?) that had this incredibly true point- when we devalue a group of humans and make them less than human, atrocities result. That’s what the Holocaust was all about. The Jewish people were considered less than human, those with disabilities were considered less than human, and the Holocaust happened.

The human beings that are not yet born are literally being labeled as less than human. We call them “embryos, “fetuses,” and even “products of conception.” And horrible atrocities are being committed through abortion. Planned Parenthood, among others, are the hands that commit those atrocities.

Of course, I knew the broad response I would get but….isn’t that pouring the baby out with the bath water (npi) to color the entire orgnization with one broad brush when PP provides birth control to women who are granted religious and governmental freedom to use same?

And there is this wide dissension about contraception as an abortifactant…sigh.

Sally, with all due respect, I think you’re missing the point. Let’s leave aside the discussion of contraception as an abortifacient for a moment and get to the crux of the matter: PP kills babies.

So what if PP gives out free birth control, or beer, or poker chips, or anything else that I may or may not agree with? They kill babies. Until and unless they stop doing that, nothing else they do matters to me. They need to stop killing babies. If and when that happens, I’ll be open to a discussion about their other actions.

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